Been awhile but we are finally back again! As per usual Los Angeles fashion we've zipped right past Winter and even seemed to have skipped through Spring with Summer Vacation just on the horizon... There is no question our wardrobe choices reflect our ambition and creativity alongside the Wild Weatherless Hollyweird World we live in. With our innovation and grace we dazzle you... WE-HAVE-STYLE!
In the Fourth Grade we have been studying the Human Figure, Our Bodies. Most recently, we have been studying the proportions of the human figure in order to make accurate representations of who and what we see around us everyday. Not only are we becoming more confident in our drawing skills throughout this process but we are beginning to pay attention to our own body, understanding that it is an important part of us and that if we want it to last we should take care of it. In order to say a real "Hello!" to our bodies we checked in with our bones! Usually we associate the skeleton with death, something we also usually associate with feeling sad, or scared. In this case we wanted to look at our own skeleton, one we have with us all of the time, while we are very much ALIVE. We wanted to make sure we understood our skeleton as something that would yes, be what was left of us when we were dead, but as something that is a part of us now, as long as we are alive. In order to get to know our bones a little more, we stuck our fingers around our eye sockets to feel our skull and poked and shimmied our hips to get to know our pelvis...we danced , we wiggled, we BREATHED, and we felt all the nooks and crannies of something we never want to forget about, OUR BODY!
After we meditated on our mortality and completed our skeletons, in proportion of course.... Our only job was to decorate, celebrating our artwork and our bodies, nothing sad or scary about it :)
Our very own Miss Kay is attempting to afford to travel to Uganda next summer with SOFTPOWER EDUCATION. To learn more and to help her in her quest please follow the link to her fundraiser below...
Well, it's been such a while since we last reached out but here we are again! To start off the school year we needed a challenging way to work together, making decisions and pushing through any difficulties that may arise in the process. So, we embark upon the COLLABORATION QUILT...
With a little musical accompaniment from Patrizia and Jimmy...
Day One. First things first... Each of us was able to start with one choice made all on our own. We could pick one color, then receiving ten 2"x 2" squares of that color. Our next job was to fill our paper however we pleased....the catch being that we would be placed in teams of three to do it, and we had to AGREEEEE (!!!). Not such an easy ask for some of us, but one we had to conquer nonetheless. Here were the rules to combining our squares of color:
For the most part everything went smoothly, with a few serious compromises, some arguments and even some tears... but this was part of the process, and through all of it each group was able to make final decisions together and were satisfied with the outcome.
Day Two. Now after all of the grief we were put through in order to get through our last task, we felt proud and accomplished, more like the community that we truly are. But alas, our quest was not complete. Now, upon meeting with our teams once more we had to make yet another important decision: How would we cut and divide our piece so that each one of us received our very own?
So again, through gritted teeth and sometimes tears, we sorted out our ideas and were all able to come to an agreement, resulting in one quilt piece per student, and again, the opportunity to make our very own choices with our bounty...
With each of our pieces we followed the same rules as before: Each piece must touch another, and You may not cover any other piece. So our Collaboration Quilt is born...
As an added Pain in the Butt bonus, we were asked to make a drawing of THE ENTIRE QUILT!! We Huffed and we Puffed but we ended up with masterpieces anyway..
A few weeks ago I was hired to do a birthday party for twin students of mine who were turning six. It was a Rainbow-Butterfly-Art themed party, one of my all time favorite themes of course :) These kids are experts on symmetry at this point so I just whipped up some psychedelic butterflies and we added color together!
Enjoy one of our favorite classroom tunes from a dear friend and artist
Paz Lenchantin off of her solo album Songs For Luci...
Once we began to really fill our Butterflies with color
we also added some oh-so-precious GLITTER!!!
One of the birthday girls admires her new friend.
When we finished both paintings we took pictures in front of them so that it looked as if we could fly! So even though our collaborations ended up with the birthday girls, we got to take a treasure home as well :)
